African American Politics

W.E.B. Du Bois, who drew from his own experiences as an African-American living in American society, explores the concept of "double-consciousness"—a term he uses to describe living as an African-American and having a "sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others." With Du Bois' examination of Black life in post-Civil War America, his explanation of the meaning of emancipation and its effect, and his views on the roles of the black leaders of his time, The Souls of Black Folk is one of the important early works in the field of sociology.

In the years following Brown v. Board of Education, countless Black citizens endured violent resistance and even death while fighting for their constitutional rights. One of those citizens, Clyde Kennard, a Korean War veteran and civil rights leader from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, attempted repeatedly to enroll at the all-white Mississippi Southern College in the late 1950s. In A Slow, Calculated Lynching, Devery S. Anderson tells the story of a man who paid the ultimate price for trying to attend a white college during Jim Crow.

The truth about slavery in America from a former slave, Fredrick Douglass. Mr. Douglass was one of the most articulate Americans of his era. There was no such person as a happy slave and black lives mattered only to abolitionists and the slaves themselves.

We've heard the name "Condoleezza Rice" over and over again as the spokesperson for President George W. Bush in matters of national security and foreign affairs. She presented a balanced, firm, unafraid presence to the country after the terrible events of September 11, 2001, as she spoke to the media and the public on behalf of the President. And, when the President has something to say about our friends and foes overseas, "Condi," as she is known to her friends, is usually standing in the background.

Tavis Smiley presents the successor to his two bestselling books, The Covenant of Black America and The Covenant in Action—Accountable will serve as a report card, holding the politicians accountable for what they have promised and holding the community responsible for its actions or inactions...

When the eleven- and twelve-year-olds on the Cannon Street YMCA All-Star team registered for a baseball tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 1955, it put the team and the forces of integration on a collision course with segregation, bigotry, and the southern way of life. When all the White teams withdrew in protest, the Cannon Street team won the state tournament.

Racial Justice and the Catholic Church examines the presence of racism in America from its early history through the Civil Rights Movement and the election of Barack Obama. It also explores how Catholic social teaching has been used - and not used - to promote reconciliation and justice.

Eminent scholar Peter Irons makes a powerful and persuasive case that Blacks have always been held back by systemic racism in all major institutions that can hold power over them. Based on a wide range of sources, from the painful words of former slaves to test scores that reveal how our education system has failed Black children, this searing and sobering account of legal and extra-legal violence against Blacks peels away the fictions and myths expressed by White racists.

From his enslavement to freedom, Frederick Douglass was one of America's most extraordinary champions of liberty and equality. Throughout his long life, Douglass was also a man of profound religious conviction. In this concise and original biography, D. H. Dilbeck offers a provocative interpretation of Douglass's life through the lens of his faith. In an era when the role of religion in public life is as contentious as ever, Dilbeck provides essential new perspective on Douglass's place in American history.

In 1921, Tulsa’s Greenwood District - known then as the nation’s “Black Wall Street” - was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States. But on May 31 of that year, a white mob, inflamed by rumors that a young black man had attempted to rape a white teenage girl, invaded Greenwood. By the end of the following day, thousands of homes and businesses lay in ashes, and perhaps, as many as 300 people were dead.

In stark and compelling prose, Thomas W. Jones tells his story as a campus revolutionary who led an armed revolt at Cornell University in 1969 and then altered his course over the next 50 years to become a powerful leader in the financial industry including high-level positions at John Hancock, TIAA-CREF, and Citigroup as Wall Street plunged into its darkest hour.

Still I Rise takes its title from a work by Maya Angelou, and it resonates with the same spirit of an unconquerable soul, a woman who is captain of her fate. This book embodies the strength of character of the inspiring women profiled within. Each chapter outlines the fall and rise of great women heroes who smashed all obstacles rather than let all obstacles smash them. Still I Rise offers hope to those undergoing their own Sisyphean struggles. Intrepid women heroes are the antithesis of the traditional damsels in distress; rather than waiting for the prince, they took salvation into their own hands.

What happened in Kirven, Texas, in May 1922, has been forgotten by the outside world. It was a coworker's whispered words, "Kirven is where they burned the [Negroes]", that set Monte Akers to work at discovering the true story behind a young white woman's brutal murder and the burning alive of three black men who were almost certainly innocent of it. This was followed by a month-long reign of terror as white men killed blacks while local authorities concealed the real identity of the white probable murderers and allowed them to go free.

Over a few weeks in 1741, 10 fires blazed across Manhattan. With each new fire, panicked whites saw more evidence of a slave uprising. Tried and convicted before the colony's Supreme Court, 13 black men were burned at the stake and 17 were hanged. Four whites, the alleged ringleaders of the plot, were also hanged, and seven more were pardoned on condition that they never set foot in New York again.

Abra Dixon is well educated, fashionable, and married to the perfect man. She also runs a film production company with her childhood friend, Natasha. Abra’s perfect life is suddenly thrown off course when her husband leaves her for a sexy young model.As Abra and Natasha try to find a backer for their latest film, they must navigate the opulent world of directors and investors. But now Abra must learn to be single and strong again. In a world where everyone seems so confident, Abra will need to develop her own definition of success.

Twelve Years a Slave tells the amazing story of a free Black man who in 1841 is taken away from his family and sold into slavery in the deep south of the United States. Solomon Northop takes us with him on his most unfortunate Journey through the days of slavery. A journey no human being should ever endure. We feel his pain as he wakes up with his arms and legs bound in the chains of slavery. Will he ever get to see his wife or hold his children in his arms again?

On the surface, Riverview High School looks like the post-racial ideal. Serving an enviably affluent, diverse, and liberal district, the school is well-funded, its teachers are well-trained, and many of its students are high achieving. Yet Riverview has not escaped the same unrelenting question that plagues schools throughout America: why is it that even when all of the circumstances seem right, black and Latino students continue to lag behind their peers?

There is, in America, an intangible university of sorts - invisible, self-propagated, and silently teaching Black Americans to disrespect and look down on their own racial kinsmen. This mis-educational institution is built on a foundation of demonstrably false ideas, long lingering myths, and hateful half-truths that have, over the years, legitimized themselves in our minds and decimated our power to effectively respond to our own problems, and, do for the world what we did at the dawn of civilization.

Black LGBT Health in the United States: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation focuses on the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of health and considers both risk and resiliency factors for the Black LGBT population. Contributors to this collection intimately understand the associations between health and intersectional anti-Black racism, heterosexism, homonegativity, biphobia, transphobia, and social class.

The fundamental drive to answer these questions is at the heart of Finding Your Roots, the companion book to the hit PBS documentary series. As Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. shows us, the tools ofcutting-edge genomics and deep genealogical research now allow us to learn more about our roots, looking further back in time than ever before. Gates' investigations take on the personal and genealogical histories of more than twenty luminaries.